To dream
by Thanes
Summary: Two friends bond over their tragic pasts in the middle of the night.
Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion. The enchanted pieces of jagged rocks flew towards Queen Mikoto. Takumi futilely tried to run towards her and push her away from the stones' trajectory, but his legs refused to move, and all he could do was watch. He saw his mother's back get impaled by the rocks, and a pained screech filled the air, one that would haunt him for as long as he lived. She collapsed in the middle of the desolated plaza, near the now-broken central statue, and as Corrin kneeled down trying to hear Mikoto's last words, the hooded swordsman simply stood there and laughed. Takumi desperately tried reaching for his bow, but it was nowhere to be found.

"This never should have happened!" Takumi thought, gritting his teeth. "This wouldn't have happened if that Nohrian scum had just stayed in her godsforsaken hellhole and never returned!"

However, his siblings didn't seem to agree with him. They slowly moved towards him as time seemed to stand still, their usually kind faces twisted with accusing rage.

"Takumi, what have you done?!" Ryouma shouted as he reached for the hilt of the Raijinto. "Our mother's gone because of you!"

The younger prince stared at his older brother in shock, tears starting to well up in his eyes. "What?! What are you talking about?! I didn't do anything! It was Corrin and that hooded man!"

"Precisely, you didn't do anything. I always knew you wear weak." Hinoka said in a frigid tone that sent shivers down his spine. "You couldn't even save someone close to you."

Takumi desperately looked around for someone who would support him, but not even Sakura would say anything as she silently judged him. His eyes fell on the body of his mother, who with her last shred of her strength opened her mouth and asked:

"Why…Takumi…why didn't you save me…?"

The young prince finally snapped and cried out in sheer desperation. He awoke in the safety of a comfortable but now sweaty bed with a yell that most certainly would wake up everyone in the vicinity. He was breathing rapidly and sweating profusely, both sweat drops and tears falling down his cheeks. He quickly stood up and grabbed a nearby cloth to wipe his face and upper body, because he knew that he'd inevitably get visitors within a few seconds. Desperately trying to calm down his raging emotions, he closed his eyes and forced himself to take a few deep breaths.

However, before he knew it, two people stormed into his room, half-dressed but with weapons ready and looks that could kill.

"Lord Takumi!" a young man with long brown hair, scarred face and muscular build shouted. He scanned the room, threateningly pointing his katana around the small room.

Behind him was a young woman with long blue hair, wearing an elegant white nightgown which stood in stark contrast to the look of crazed fury on her face. She held her long steel naginata so tightly that her knuckles had turned almost completely white.

However, the duo quickly realized that it had been a false alarm and that there were no enemy nearby.

"Lord Takumi, are you alright?!" the woman asked, not yet ready to lower her weapon.

The prince thought quickly, still recovering from the haunting images of his recent nightmare. "I'm fine, Oboro, Hinata, I…I stubbed my toe against the chair." He explained, pointing towards it for emphasis.

It was an obvious lie. They knew he wasn't being honest and Takumi knew they weren't stupid enough to fall for it, but he was also aware that they wouldn't pry any further out of respect.

"Ha…haha, well then, false alarm, eh! Be more careful in the future, Lord Takumi!" Hinata said, trying to play it off with a smile. Noticing that a few more soldiers had come running to see what the commotion was about, Saizou leading the charge, Hinata turned around and held up his arms and gestured a big X. "Alright, false alarm people! Back to bed we go, nothing to see here! Show's over! Sorry about this!"

He was met with questioning glances, but maybe because of the lateness of the hour, they quickly returned to their rooms; only Saizou lingered for a few more moments, silently asking Hinata a few questions, but Takumi couldn't hear what they were saying. He was, however, incredibly thankful that Hinata had been so quick to send everyone back.

As Hinata and Saizou left, only Oboro remained. Now that they were the only people in the corridor, she quickly snuck into Takumi's room to make sure she could talk with him in private.

"You look dreadful." She said as she quietly closed the door. There wasn't a lot of space, nor many things in the room. Izana had generously offered them each their own quarters to spend the night before they continued their journey, and the Hoshidan army had gratefully accepted; it beat sleeping in tents out in the middle of nowhere, after all.

Takumi scoffed, but he knew she was right. He sat down on the bed and placed his hands against his face.

"I…" Oboro began, unsure of what to say. "Sometimes, when it feels like the past will overwhelm me, I feel so helpless. Occasionally I work myself ragged in camp trying to avoid sleep, and sometimes I desperately try to list the things that make me happy and focus on that, and I go through the list over and over again until it practically becomes a chant."

The prince looked at her, dumbstruck at the very personal information she was sharing with him. In the moonlight he could see her eyes watering. "Oboro…"

She continued, temporarily ignoring him. "But…but I then I pick myself up again, because my parents would never want me to live in the past. I'm sure that once this horrible war is over, I'll be able to create a peaceful live for myself. I also know we'll win this war because we've got you on our side, Lord Takumi."

She dried her eyes with the bottom of her palms. There was a moment of silence as Oboro looked at him, expecting him to say something; she had revealed something very personal, and now it was his time to return the favor. Takumi inhaled deeply and looked at his retainer with determination.

"I dreamed about what happened to Mother." He began. Judging by the expression on her face, Oboro had expected something like that. Seeing that this would take a while, she sat down on the chair and waited for him to continue.

"I…I couldn't do anything." He all but whispered, closing his eyes and made a pained expression. "It all happened too quickly, I was disoriented, but I should have done something, ANYTHING, but I didn't. It's my fault, I have failed my family and my entire country!"

Oboro moved so quickly that he didn't even have time to react. She had bent forward and slapped him so hard that anyone on the outside of the room would've heard the impact. Takumi was too shocked to say anything and just stared at her instead.

"Don't say that, and don't even think it!" She said, her usually soft eyes narrowed and sharp. Oboro had always had fluctuating emotions, but she did her best to hide it from Takumi; this was one of the few times where her emotions had run amuck in something not relating to Nohrians.

She sat on the bed next to him, her eyes softening. "Lord Takumi, there was nothing anyone could have done. No one is blaming you for not saving the day; you're not omnipotent."

The prince pressed his hand against the slapped cheek to dull the pain. He knew what she said was true, but he couldn't simply push that thought out of his head. "I know that! I really do but…what if there was something only I could do? What if I could have prevented this whole thing?"

"You can't just think of what could have been." Oboro said gently, offering him a weak smile. "Sometimes…I…" She stuttered, looking very shy all of a sudden and breaking eye contact. She fell silent, and just as Takumi was about to ask her what she wanted to say, she continued in a barely audible voice. "There's a silver lining to everything; without my parents' deaths, I would never have met you. I miss my parents every day, but I'm so proud of serving you, milord."

Takumi removed his hand from his cheek, again rendered speechless by Oboro. He had no idea how she could say such private things so easily, and while he had always considered Oboro to be a model retainer, he hadn't known she valued him that highly. There was yet another pause in their conversation, and the silence of the night was only interrupted by the cries of the cicadas in the garden outside.

"I know your parents would be very proud of you, too, Oboro. I know I am. I've come to rely on you not only as a retainer, but as a friend as well. Thank you for everything." He said with a genuine smile, probably the first one since the war had begun anew.

Now it was her turn to be surprised. Her light brown eyes widened and her cheeks turned a light shade of pink; it wasn't common for Takumi to praise someone so highly. Her surprise quickly turned into embarrassed joy as, instead of her usual cocky grin, she smiled so widely that even her teeth showed. "Always a pleasure to serve, milord!" She responded proudly.

Suddenly, Takumi felt very awkward. He tried finding the right words to say, but after everything that had happened, and everything the two had shared that night, he was drawing a complete blank. Instead, the only thing he thought about was the fact that his very beautiful subordinate was in her room in the middle of the night, her blue hair looking like it was glowing in the moonlight as if it were scene taken right out of one of Sakura's Hoshidan comics which she thought no one knew she read. He felt like there were many things he wanted to say – SHOULD say, but he couldn't think of anything.

Oboro, in turn, noticed the sudden shift in tone and seemed to get rather flustered herself. She stood up abruptly and spoke in a rather loud tone that tried too hard to sound casual. "Well then! I'll see you tomorrow, Lord Takumi!"

"Absolutely!" He responded, also too loudly.

"Great…great, this has been fun." Oboro said as if she had been invited over for tea. She closed her eyes and cursed under her breath when she realized how stupid she had sounded.

Seeing her acting embarrassed as well put Takumi at ease and made him feel more confident. "Good night, Oboro. I'll see you at breakfast tomorrow, alright?" He said softly, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"That sounds good I love breakfast most important meal of the day as they say haha well sleep tight!" She said at the speed of sound, grabbed her naginata and power walked back to her room, and Takumi watched her beautiful hair swaying dramatically at the rhythm of her steps until it disappeared around the corner. Sighing to himself, he crawled back into his bed and put his hands behind his head, thinking about what Oboro had told him. One day he knew he'd have to repay her kindness and loyalty somehow, but he didn't know how he could ever express his gratitude.

Although he didn't expect the nightmares to instantly disappear, he thought he might have taken the first step towards getting rid of them. That night, Takumi slept like a log, and dreamt about more pleasant things that would leave him with a warm feeling in his heart the following morning, although he wouldn't be able to remember what it was he had dreamt about, save for a specific shade of blue.

_

AN: Fire Emblem and all of its characters belong to Intelligent Systems; I own nothing nor do I claim to. 


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